Tithing and Temporal Faithfulness

ELDER JOHN WELLS ¶

Of the Presiding Bishopric ¶

I have been deeply impressed with the references that have been made to the great pageant, particularly with the comments of our previous speaker, Junius F. Wells. It will serve to remind the Latterday Saints of the program of our Father in heaven for the development and salvation of his children. The pageant gives a history of the world ¶

that is hardly ever given in textbooks. It shows the dealings of our Father with his children through various generations. ¶

No one could listen to the music and to the recitation, and see the marvelous presentation of the great events, without strongly feeling the power and influence of God's messengers, prophets, and representatives who have held the holy priesthood. ¶

We speak of the great events that have transpired in this Church, the restoration of the Gospel through the medium of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I never tire of hearing it. It is always music to me. It is the greatest subject of this last dispensation. We should constantly teach to our children and to others the story of the Prophet's first vision, the coming of the Angel Moroni, the delivery of the plates, the translation of the book, the testimony of the Three Witnesses, and the organization of the Church. We should also teach the mission of John the Baptist, and the travels, labors, and miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ¶

I am going to read to you a small slip that came to my attention years ago, written by a man named Francis, and which appeared in a California newspaper. It ranks very high, I believe, in current literature, and when I read it, it fills my mind with a very profound impression. ¶

"Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of his divine manhood. ¶

"While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. Another betrayed him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon the cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth while he was dying, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. ¶

"Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today he is the center of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life." ¶

We believe in God the Eternal Father. We believe in his Son Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother and Redeemer, our Advocate with the Father, who came to redeem mankind from the fall of Adam and to lay down a code of laws known to us as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by obedience to which we may return to our Father in heaven. After three years of missionary labor, he was crucified, and having overcome all things, all power was given unto him, both in heaven and in earth. By his sacrifice he brought to pass the resurrection and eternal life. ¶

The Gospel he taught has been restored in these latter days through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who received his authority from John the Baptist, and from Peter, James and John. ¶

I hope that some future historian of the Church (say fifty years from now) will record that as a result of this great centennial gathering there developed among the Latter-day Saints a deeper spirituality, a more sincere desire to serve the Lord our God, a truer and more friendly neighborliness and love of fellowmen than ever before. ¶

May the blessings of the Lord be with this people, and may his special blessings rest upon those who direct the affairs of this Church, I sincerely pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶